Halifax has landed a stop on the Web.com Tour this season, it was announced Tuesday.

The PGA Tour, along with SportBox Entertainment Group, officially came out with their plans for the week-long "GOLFest Nova Scotia," which will take place around Canada Day at Halifax's Ashburn Golf Club.

The Nova Scotia Open will be the first event in Canada for the PGA's main feeder tour since the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic was last played in Ontario in 2010.

It will be a 156-man field competing in a 72-hole stroke-play event for a purse of $650,000 US July 3-6.

The "celebration of national pride and all things golf in Canada" also will feature the Canada Cup earlier in the week.

Canadian PGA Tour players, and SportBox clients, Graham DeLaet, David Hearn and Mike Weir will be joined by a top Canadian Web.com Tour player on June 30 in a battle with three yet-to-be announced international PGA Tour stars and an international Web.com player.

Also included in GOLFest is a Junior Canada Cup on June 29, in conjunction with the Canadian Junior Golf Association.

This will feature Eastern Canada juniors against counterparts from Western Canada. There will be a series of six qualifying events (three in each zone) to determine the six players on each squad.

This festival and its events are a boon for Canadian golf and it has some good backing. Partners in the event include the Province of Nova Scotia, the Halifax Region Municipality and Cobra Puma Golf, among others.

"The Web.com Tour is extremely excited to be coming to Nova Scotia for the first time this summer," Web.com Tour president Bill Calfee said in a news release. "The Nova Scotia Open and GOLFest activities will give golf fans of Halifax and the province of Nova Scotia a reason to be at Ashburn Golf Club every day to celebrate Canada Day week. The Web.com Tour's season-long quest for the 50 available PGA Tour cards for 2014-15 will feature players from Canada, the United States and all around the globe and be in full swing when the Tour reaches Halifax.

"The Web.com Tour looks forward to a special week in Nova Scotia."

Game-changing visit?

So, was Tiger Woods' visit to India this week just a thinly veiled cash grab, or was it a watershed moment for Indian golf?

I guess you could look at it both ways: The cynic says Woods would never have been there if it weren't for the reported $2-million fee paid by a rich industrialist, while the more positive view is that his appearance might spark some genuine interest in the sport and inspire youngsters in the country of more than 1.25 billion people.

The world's No. 1 golfer played 18 holes Tuesday at Delhi Golf Course, where he was a guest of Hero Motocorp's Pawan Munjal. The scene reportedly got out of hand as throngs of uninvited spectators rushed to get a look at Woods and caused havoc by ignoring ropes and running across fairways during the exhibition.

Woods' first visit to India is being hailed as a game-changer for the country's golf scene by the media there and by Shiv Kapur, who also played against Tiger in Delhi.

"I think it's any golfer's dream come true to play against Tiger, especially at my home club," Kapur said in an interview with NDTV. "Not just a dream come true for me ... to see Tiger face off against a fellow Indian golfer was an absolutely magical experience."

Kapur, who played a three-hole skins match and reportedly tied with Woods, says the event will leave a legacy.

"He's such a great ambassador for the sport ... all the kids that were there will want to play golf and this Tiger Madness will continue. Even people that weren't there. Just to know that Tiger came to India is a huge boost for Indian golf.

"I think it will bring more awareness to it. Golf in this country has not been recognized as a big sport as it should be. He brings that to the table and I think there will be a lot more attention on golf and what Indian golfers are doing all over the world. He'll grow the sport like he has in other parts of the world."

It's hard to imagine that Woods could have the kind of impact he did in the U.S. when he first arrived on the golf scene, but Kapur seems to think it's possible.

"Every single kid that was there will want to play golf and every single kid that heard Tiger came to India will want to take up the sport, so I think it's going to be a real boost for Indian golf."

Plural of walrus?

In one of the nicer stories of the week, Kevin Stadler's win at the Waste Management Phoenix Open will help his father realize a dream.

The younger Stadler's victory earned him an invitation to The Masters, prompting his father, the 1982 champion, to reportedly announce it would be the last time he played in the storied tournament.

The Walrus, as he was known throughout his career, finally can slide off into the sunset after becoming the first father to play with his son in The Masters.

Great pairing

Speaking of father/son relationships... 2009 and 2010 Pebble Beach Pro-Am champ Dustin Johnson will again play with future father-in-law Wayne Gretzky this week.

As Advertised in the Winnipeg SUN

Web.com Tour to make stop in Halifax this year

Halifax has landed a stop on the Web.com Tour this season, it was announced Tuesday.

The PGA Tour, along with SportBox Entertainment Group, officially came out with their plans for the week-long "GOLFest Nova Scotia," which will take place around Canada Day at Halifax's Ashburn Golf Club.

The Nova Scotia Open will be the first event in Canada for the PGA's main feeder tour since the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic was last played in Ontario in 2010.

It will be a 156-man field competing in a 72-hole stroke-play event for a purse of $650,000 US July 3-6.

The "celebration of national pride and all things golf in Canada" also will feature the Canada Cup earlier in the week.

Canadian PGA Tour players, and SportBox clients, Graham DeLaet, David Hearn and Mike Weir will be joined by a top Canadian Web.com Tour player on June 30 in a battle with three yet-to-be announced international PGA Tour stars and an international Web.com player.